Notre Dame's seniors hope to end careers with a national title

Baylor, Griner big roadblock for Irish

Devereaux Peters (14) and the Irish hope to win the national title Tuesday. (Justin Edmonds/Getty photo)

DENVER — They are about to close a window at Notre Dame that has kept the women's program comfortable — and competitive — for the last three years.

In athletics, windows are defined as opportunities. They are usually dispersed in two- or three-year increments, there to inspire a team to pursue championships. They open when great players come, close when they leave.

And after Tuesday night's NCAA championship game between Notre Dame and Baylor at the Pepsi Center, an era ends for veterans Natalie Novolsel, Devereaux Peters and Brittany Mallory.

Win or lose, their careers will be over and the Irish will start fresh. One window closes, another opens.

"I would love them to go out as national champions," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said Monday. "There is such a huge difference between losing the last game and winning it. But for this group, it has been special (at Notre Dame) for as long as they've been here. And I've treasured every moment of this year and will be sad to see them go."

The Irish (35-3) have already had a great season, one following a year that ended with a loss to Texas A&M in the national championship game.

They defeated Big East rival Connecticut three out of four times, including Sunday's semifinal. They have an All-American guard in Skylar Diggins. And they have the chemistry, defensive discipline, camaraderie and toughness stoked by their upperclassmen, including two fifth-year seniors, Peters and Mallory.

But what they don't have, what Notre Dame hasn't had since 2001, is a national championship. And time is running out.

"From the time we held our first practice after that loss (to A&M), we've been going really hard," said Mallory, who made two 3-pointers in overtime to help drop Connecticut. "And it soon became our motivation."

Awaiting the Irish in the finale are the Bears (39-0), the nation's lone unbeaten team. If they win Tuesday, they will be the NCAA's first 40-0 team.

On Nov. 20 in Waco, Texas, Baylor gave Notre Dame its worst beating of the year, 94-81. Notre Dame did not lose again until Feb. 12 at home to West Virginia.

The Irish are a changed team. But they can't change nature. And that means there is nothing they can do to alter the physical mismatch presented by Baylor's 6-foot-8 junior center Brittney Griner.

Griner, the likely national player of the year, has blocked 201 shots (Notre Dame's team has 166), averages 23.2 points and shoots 60.7 percent from the field, 80.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Griner is coming back next season so Baylor will have another chance at a championship (it last won in 2005). There are no such guarantees for Notre Dame.

"We didn't talk about it too much until the Big East (tournament) started," Mallory said. "We didn't want our last game to be anything other than the national championship game."